anciently called Tyrconnell, a county in Ireland, in the province of Ulster, is bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by the counties of Londonderry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh, and on the south by those of Fermanagh and Leitrim, and the bay of Donegal. It is separated from Londonderry and Tyrone by Lough Foyle and the Foyle river, except near the city of Londonderry, the liberties of which extend to the west of the Foyle. Its greatest length is about ninety English miles, the breadth varying from 16 to 45 miles, and it contains about 1,100,000 English acres. Ballyshannon, near its southern extremity, is in latitude 54° 31' N. and longitude 8° 2' W. from Greenwich.

The subdivisions are baronies; of which there are six, viz. Raphoe, Kilmoreenan, Enniskennan, Tirhugh, Bannagh, and Boylagh; the two latter, which had been before united, were disjoined by act of Parliament in 1790. There are twenty-two islands called the Rosses, on the north-west coast, of which Arranmore, containing about 1000 English acres, is the largest. Excepting two or three, they are all inhabited.

This is a very rugged country, with a cold, wet climate, and, from the want of woods or plantations, much exposed to every blast. A great part of the surface is covered with bogs and mountains. It is nearly divided by a high ridge, that stretches from Tiellen Head on the west, to Tyrone on the east. Yet there is a good deal of fertile land in the vallies between the mountains, and on the banks of the rivers; but there the crops are frequently endangered by floods, which rush impetuously from the high grounds. The western parts of the barony of Tirhugh on the sea, and the barony of Raphoe on the east, comprehend all the champaign country. Besides the Foyle, and the lake of that name, which form the eastern boundary of the county, the principal rivers are the Finn, which traverses a great part of it from west to east, and falls into the Foyle at Strabane; the Erne, which rises from a lake of that name, in the county of Fermanagh, and falls into the sea at Ballyshannon; and the Guibarra, a river of extraordinary breadth and depth for the shortness of its course, reaching the sea on the west, after a course of twenty miles. The fresh water lakes of any note are Lough-Eask and Lough-Derg. Lough-Foyle and Lough-Swilly are arms of the sea; the former navigable for ships of great burden to Londonderry, and for small craft up to Lifford; and the latter carrying vessels of 150 tons to Letterkenny, almost in the centre of the county. Besides these, there is a number of bays, formed by inlets of the sea, from Mulrany on the north, to Donegal and Ballyshannon on the south.

Among the natural objects worthy of notice may be mentioned a remarkable glen at Brown-Hall near Ballyshannon. It is watered by a mountain stream which winds through limestone rocks, sometimes above ground, and sometimes concealed from view. The rock in many places is split and much wooded, and the chasm has many bendings and precipices, over which the water is projected with great force, and when swelled by the rains presents a very awful spectacle. A curious phenomenon, called Mr. Swine's Gun, is observed near Hornahead, a headland on the north coast, when the wind blows from that point at half tide. The waves, which have perforated the rock for about twenty yards, rise through an opening in it, not much larger than a kitchen chimney, and ascend into the air with a terrific noise, which may be heard for many miles.

With the exception of a few farms in the hands of proprietors, and the land in the immediate neighbourhood of the towns, agriculture is in a very backward state in Donegal. The use of the plough is confined to a small proportion of the cultivated land, and is generally of a bad construction; spade labour is preferred in most places. Barley is the chief grain crop, and it is almost all used in distillation; oats are only grown for home consumption, and wheat is confined to a few favourite spots. There are only two flour mills in the county. The culture of flax is considerable in the barony of Raphoe, and is extending even in the mountain districts. Potatoes are cultivated everywhere. Turnips, clovers, and other green crops, are almost unknown among the tenantry. Village or partnership farms still abound, but farms now begin to be let to individuals as separate holdings. In the low country they are from 10 to 50 acres in extent, and from 40 to 500 in the mountains. The fences are commonly nothing better than ditches, with banks of turf or clay, so that the cattle require to be herded while the crops are growing, and in many parts they are allowed to graze promiscuously as soon as the crops are removed. Sea-weed and shelly sand are used as manures, but very little limestone or limestone gravel. The practice of paring and burning, so common in many parts of Ireland, is seldom resorted to in this county. Leases are granted for 21 years and a life.

The staple manufacture of Donegal is linen, which Donegal has revived since the peace, and continues to extend. In the barony of Boylagh the women are much employed in knitting stockings, which are sold to provide for the rent. Kelp is prepared along the north-west coast; and during the fishing season three or four salt-pans used to be kept in full work. But whisky, says Dr M'Parlan, particularly in the mountain region, and all around the coast, is the chief manufacture. "It is by running their barley into this beverage, that they provide for one-half year's rent. This is therefore a tax raised by the rich on the morals and industry of the poor." In 1814 and 1815, the fines for illicit distillation imposed upon the parish of Culdafl, containing about 4900 inhabitants, amounted to £6200.

The herring fishery, which was at one time very productive on the north-west coast of Donegal, has declined greatly within these few years, though in some seasons it is still considerable. In each of the years 1784 and 1785, the winter fishery produced £40,000 to the inhabitants of the Rosses. This induced Colonel Conyngham to form an establishment for prosecuting this fishery on the island of Innismacduin, one of the Rosses, to which he gave the name of Rutland, after the nobleman of that name, who was then Lord Lieutenant, at an expense to himself of £38,000; besides £20,000 granted by Parliament. This undertaking was remarkably successful at first, but the herrings have since disappeared, and the whole scheme has entirely failed. The white-fishery is in a great measure neglected. Whales and sun-fish occasionally visit the coast. At Ballyshannon salmon and eels are caught in the Erne, in such numbers as to afford large rents to the owners of these fisheries.

The lower orders, especially in the mountain districts, and near the sea coast, are in general miserably lodged; and even where the cabins are somewhat better, they are often intolerably filthy, the cattle and pigs in many cases living in the same apartment with the family. Turf is the only fuel; the common food potatoes and oatmeal bread. The expense of subsisting a family of six is estimated at £15 or £16. In the mountain districts, a cabin with an acre of ground and grass for a cow is rented at a guinea a year, by cotters who get 9d. a day for their work, or 6½d. with victuals. In the low country the common rate of wages is 13d. without food, but there the cabin with its appendages rents for two guineas and three pounds.

A gentleman of the name of Robinson, about 20 years ago, bequeathed a sum of money for the instruction of children of all persuasions, from the interest of which £15 was to be paid yearly to a schoolmaster, in each of the parishes in the diocese of Raphoe. The practice is to allow the schoolmaster £12, and to lay out the other £3 on books. The state of education in the mountain districts is said to be more backward than in any other part of Ireland. The English language is very little known there. The people are anxious to have their children instructed, but are in general too poor to erect schools and support teachers.

In this state of ignorance it is not to be wondered that the people should be addicted to superstitious observances, some of which cannot well be ascribed to the prevalence of the Catholic religion, though the only one that deserves to be noticed is of that description. On a small island in Lough-Derg, St Patrick's purgatory, as it is called, has been famous for several centuries. Safe-conducts appear to have been granted by the kings of England to foreigners desirous to visit it, in the fourteenth century, some of which have been preserved in Rymer's Fœdera. According to Mr Wakefield's information, it is still a place of great resort from June to September. Every pilgrim must remain nine days and as many nights on the island, and pass the last twenty-four hours without food. For the greater part of the day they are on their knees, and, as there are no beds nor shelter of any kind, they sleep under the canopy of heaven. A priest with six assistants attends to direct the penitents in their devotions, and they find it a laborious but very profitable undertaking. There are never fewer than 1000 or 1200 persons assembled on the island while the station lasts. From whatever distance they may come, they must travel all the way barefooted and bareheaded. Each is allowed an oaten cake daily for eight days, and for drink they have nothing but the water of the lake, to which they give the name of wine.

Donegal is in the ecclesiastical province of Armagh, and, according to Beaufort, contained, in 1792, 42 parishes, thirty of which, with thirty-two churches, compose the diocese of Raphoe; 11 parishes and 13 churches are in that of Derry; and one parish with its church in the bishopric of Clogher. The number of parishes all provided with resident clergymen is now 48. All sorts of tillage crops pay tithe, but it is usual to agree for a payment per acre in money, which is said to be in general moderate, and obtained without discontent or litigation.

Twelve members sat in the Irish Parliament for the county, and the boroughs of Ballyshannon, Donegal, Killybegs, Lifford, and St Johnstown. The county now sends two members to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, but the boroughs none. The number of freeholders, according to Wakefield, is 9000, chiefly Roman Catholics, among whom the Marquis of Abercorn and the Earl of Conyngham have the greatest influence.

In 1789, the population of Donegal was estimated by Mr Burke of the Royal Irish Academy at 140,000, the number of houses being then 23,521; in 1802, it was supposed to approach 200,000, which is one person for every 5½ English acres. The Catholics are said to be the Protestants as 6 to 1; the latter are chiefly Presbyterians. Except Lord Southwell, none of the Catholics seem to have landed property; none of them are ever on the grand jury; nor is there a Catholic officer in the county militia. There is no large town in the county. Out of thirty which receive the name of towns, Lifford, where the assizes are held, Ballyshannon, Donegal, Raphoe, Letterkenny, and Rathmelton, are the only places worthy of notice; and none of them require to be particularly described. Small as is the population of this extensive county, it does not afford sufficient employment to its inhabitants. In one year, 4000 have embarked at the port of Londonderry alone for a foreign country, many of them emigrants from this county.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Donegal was possessed by the O'Donnells, O'Doghertys, Macswineys, O'Boyles, Macwards, Macconneys, O'Gallaghers, and Clerys. The boundaries of the estates that belonged to these families are distinctly marked in a map, called Ortelius Improved, copies of which were published in Dublin about twenty years ago. In 1618, a survey was made by Nicholas Pynnar of the six escheated counties of Ulster, which James I. had bestowed chiefly on British settlers, for the purpose of ascertaining if they had complied with the conditions required of them. The extent of these plantations was found to be 500,000 Irish acres (nearly 810,000 English acres), but a great proportion of this was of little value. The landed property of Donegal experienced another revolution after the rebellion of 1641; and it was again surveyed, by Sir William Petty, in 1654, whose map is still preserved by the Commissioners of the Public Records in Ireland. See Beaufort's Memoir of a Map of Ireland, 1792; McParlan's Statistical Survey of Donegal, 1802; Newenham's View of the Natural, Political, and Commercial Circumstances of Ireland, 1809; Wakefield's Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political, 1812; and the Parochial Survey of Ireland, Vol.I. (1814), and Vol.II. (1816). (A.)